Pleasure-railway construction and operation



, J. A. MILLER; PLEASURE RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION.

APPLICATION FILED JAN-12,1921- Patented Mar. 14, 1922.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

J. A. MILLER. PLEASURE RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 12, 1921 Patented Mar. 14, 1922.

2 SHEETSSHEE UNITED STATES JOHN A. MILLER, 0F HOMEWOOD, ILLINOIS.

PLEASURE-RAILWAY CONSTRUCTION AND OPERATION.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 14, 1922.

Application filed January 12, 1921. Serial No. 436,823.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN A. MILLER, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Homewood, in the county of Cook, State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Pleasure- Railway Construction and Operation, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in pleasure railway construction and operation, particularly to the construction eration of vehicle units forming trains for traveling over short and sudden curves, dips and summits in track structures in amusement parks or resorts.

Pleasure seekers in amusement parks desire sensation, and the more sensation an amusement device offers, the more it willbe patronized. In pleasure railways trains of ordinary cars have been run, but in order to get the capacity these trains are quite long, and with long trains great care must be taken in traveling around curves and over dips and summits. With such long trains there is a limit to the shortness of curves and the suddenness and abruptness of dips or summits and consequently the track must be long in order to give the necessary amount of sensation during a ride. The main object of my invention is to provide improved car construction and coupling together thereof so that the length of trains will be materially reducedv without diminishing thecapacity, and together with such concentration in length, such flexibility is provided that'the trains can readily and safely travel over very sharp curves and over very sudden and abrupt dips and summits. This means that the length of rides and the expense of construction can be materially reduced without decreasing the capacity and the sensational features.

Another important object of my invention is to provide construction, connection and operation which will reduce track friction to a minimum, this being accomplished by means of compensation and adjusting mechanism operable automatically during the running of a train to set the axles to hold the wheels properly located relative to the rails.

' The above and other features of my invention are described in detail in the following specification and illustrated on the and co-op-' 7 trailer units 0 can be used in accompanying drawings, in which draw- 1ngs- Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of the front section of a train with parts broken away,

Fig. 2 is a plan view,

Fig. 3 is a plan View of the running gear, Fig. 4 is a sectional view on plane 44, Fig. 2 of the running-gear and part of the body structure and Fig. 5 is an end view, partly in section. Briefly speaking the train of my construction comprises a leading vehicle unit and any number of trailer units, the trailer units being two-wheeled and having each a rear axle and pivotally connected at their front ends on the preceding unit. The leading vehicle unit comprises a front two axle section and a rear single axle section, the axles being connected together by draw bars to which the are connected centrally to be rotatable. (l ompensating lever mechanism connects between the axles and the draw bars and operates to swing the axles in accordance with the curvature of the track, so as to always hold the axles in such position that the wheels will assume the most efficient angle with reference to the rails to thereby eliminate any tendency to climb the rails and to reduce traction friction to a minimum.

Referring to the drawings, the leading vehicle unit comprises the front section a and the rear section b, and any number of thetrain. The front section comprises the front and rear axles 10 and 11 respectively, and the rear section b has the rear axle 12. The axles 10 and 11 have secured at their central points the fittings 13 and .14.- respectively to which the draw bar 15 is pivoted at its ends by the vertical pins 16 and 17. The fitting 18 has rotatable connection with the axle 11 at the sides of the fitting 14, and to this fitting the draw bar 19 is pivoted at its front end by means of the vertical pin 20. At its rear end the draw bar is pivoted by means of the vertical pin 21 to the fitting 22 secured on the axle 12 at the center thereof. With these pivotal draw bar connections the axles are free to rotate in a horizontal, plane.

Pivotedby pin (Z on the draw bar 15 near the axle 11 are the links 23 and 24,

and pivoted by pin e on the draw bar 19 are the links 25 and 26. The links 23 and '24 at their inner ends are pivoted to the the shaft 11 at the sides of the fittings 27 and 28 respectively, the fittings being thus slidable on the axle and the links being rotatable horizontally. The diagonal bars 31 and 32 are pivoted at their front ends to the fittings 33 and 34 respectively secured on the axle 10 near the outer ends thereof, and at their inner ends these bars are pivoted respectively to the fittings 35 and 36 secured to the axle 11 near the outer end thereof, the diagonal bars being adapted for lateral shifting.

Encircling the axle 11 at the sides of the fittings 35 and .36 respectively are the fittings 37 and 38 respectively to which links 39 and 40 are pivoted at their front ends,-

the links at their rear ends being pivoted together by the pin 41 which is secured to the chassis frame 42 of the vehicle section b. The chassis frame shown comprises the side beams 43 and 44 in the form of channel bars which at their rear ends journal the axle 12. Intermediate their ends the side beams are connected by the cross bar 45 intermediate whose ends the pin 41 is secured. The front ends of the side beams are connected together by a channel bar 46 which at its center journals a roller 47 which engages in the channel bar 48 connecting together the ends of the side beams 49 and 50 of the chassis frame 51 for the vehicle section a. The center beam 52 of the chassis frame 51 rests at its front end to the supporting lug 53 extending up from the fitting 14 secured on the axle 11 at its center. At

' its rear end the beam 52 rests on the lug 54 extending up from the fittin 13 secured on the axle 10 at its center. he cross beam 55 connects together the side beams 49 and 50 at the front end and through this cross beam and the center beam 52 extends the pivot pin 56 which is secured in the block 54. The pin 57 secured in the lug 53 pivotally receives the front end of the center beam 52. The chassis frame 51 thus has pivotal connection at its ends with the axles 10 and 11.

The links 23 and 24 are of equal length and the links 25 and 26 are of equal length, and the diagonal bars 31 and 32 are of equal length, Likewise the links 39 and 40 are of equal length. When the leading vehicle unit is on straight track the draw bars 15 and 19 will be in'alinement and the pivotal connections of the links therewith will be in a common straight line with the pivot connections 16, 17, 20 and 21 of the draw bars with the axles. The axles throughout hicle -unit leaves thestraight track and enters a curve, the front axle, by virtue of the flange on the outer wheel, is shifted inwardly, and this of coursewill swing the draw bars into position at an angle with each other. If the draw bars 15 and 19 were of equal length then such shifting would bring the axles into line with the radii 1' of the track curve at therespective axles, that is, the planes of the respective wheels would beparallel with thetangential plane at the axles. However, it isdesirable to swing the leading axle a little further than into alineinent with the curve radius in order to keep the advancing side of the front wheel flange away from the outer rail so as to eliminate all possibility of climbing and to reduce the friction to a minimum. I therefore make the draw bar 15 shorter than the draw bar of the draw bars carries the pivot points d and e of the compensating links toward the inside of the track and shifts the fittings' 27, 29 and 28, 30 along the axle 11. To permit such shift the axle 11 must swing on its pivot, and this will incline the outer wheel with the advancing edge of its flange toward the outer rail. ,This sacrifice is, however, more than compensated for by the advantages derived from swinging the axle 10 at its outer end in, advance of the curve radius, it being all important that the front axle wheels be prevented from climbing as the train suddenly hits curves. The swing of the front axle is accomplished by the diagonal bars 31 and 32 which connect with the axle 11. When the axle 11 swings at its outer end behind the curve radius line at that point-the front axle will be swung by the diagonal bars at its outer end in advance of the radial line at that point. Thus as the leading vehicle unit travels over curves, the compensating links, the diagonal bars, and the draw bars co-operate to keep the wheels of the section a at the most efiicient angle with reference to the rails to reduce climbing to a minimum and also the traction friction, the greatest degree of safety being thus assured.

The pivot pin 41 on the chassis frame of the section b is so located between the front and rear ends of the frame that the axle 12 carried at all tical as well travels over the channel beam 48. The chassis frame 42 thus has a three point support, namely the wheels on the axle 12 and the roller 47. The chassis frame 51 has a, two point support on the axles 10 and 11 by virtue of the pivot pins 56 and 57, but to limit the sidewise tilting of the chassis frame it is provided with blocks 57 and 58 at its rear end which engage with rollers 59 and 60 on the axle 11, and with blocks 61 and 62 at its front end which engage with rollers 63 and 64 provided on the front axle 10. These rollers take up the weight on the chassis frame 51 after tion a, the roller 47 slight tilting thereof to either side, while at the same time they permit the axles to swing freely. The outer rails at curves are banked to offset centrifugal force so that the chassis frame 51 and any load thereon is practically times at the pivot points 56 and 57 thus leaving the axles free for veras lateral swing and thereby permitting them to closely follow the rails to keep the wheels at all times in firm engagement therewith. The various pivot connections on a train are sufiiciently loose to add flexibility to the traveling structure without detracting from the safety.

There may be any number of trailers 0. Each trailer comprises a chassis frame having side beams 65 and 66 which attheir rear ends journal the rear axle 67. Intermediate their ends the beams support the cross beam 68 at the center of which is the pivot pin 69 which receives the links 70 and 71 extending to fittings 72 and 73 secured on the rear axle of the preceding vehicle. As shown in Fig. 3 the trailer behind the section b is connected by the links 70 and 71 to the fittings on the axle 12, and the front ends of the trailer side beams are connected by the cross beam 74 which carries a roller 75 which rides on the beam 76 connecting together the rear ends of the beams 43 and 44 of the vehicle section b. At the rear ends of the beams 65 and 66 is the cross beam 77 which forms a track for the roller on the next trailer, such trailer being connected to the axle 67; by links 7 O and 71. The location of the pivot pin 69 between the front and rear ends of the trailer chassis frame is such as will bring the trailer wheels at the proper angle with reference to the rails, the swing of the rear axle on one vehicle acting through the links 70 and 71 to swing the next vehicle the proper distance for such wheel adjustment,

the swing being preferably such as to bring the trailer axles at their outer ends a slight distance in advance of the track radius lines at such points. Each trailer has thus a three point support, namely its two wheels and the roller at its front end', and the trailer will at all times hold'the rails.

By having the leading vehicle unit of two sections mounted on three axles a very compact and short arrangement results, and by having the trailers provided with only rear axles and resting at their front ends-on the preceding vehicle, a short and compact train results which has maximum capacity for passengers. Any suitable body may be provided for the various chassis frames. In the arrangement shown, each body 9 has tandem seats 78 and .79 surrounded by a guard railing 80, such seats being arranged over the rear axles of the vehicle sections and trailers. The roller end of the chassis frame of the section b is underneath the seats of section a while the roller end of the chassis frame of the first trailer is underneath the sets of section b, the roller ends of succeeding trailers being under the seats of preceding trailers. On the sections a. and b the chassis frames support the entire load of the bodies and passengers independently of the roller ends of the chassis frames so that the entire load is directly on the axle and the roller connections are free to operate easily. ()n the trailers the greater part of the load is on the axles as the seats are placed over the axle. Thus the roller connections between the vehicle sections are free to o erate easily and readily at all times. The arrangement of the seats directly over the axles insures comfort and safety to the passengers while the train is traveling around curves as danger of side sway is eliminated.

As shown, a front guard railing structure 81 is provided on the section a which is separated a sufiicient distance from the railing 80 to leave entrance passageways 82 for passengers. The railings 80 on adjacent vehicles are also a sutlicient distance apart to leave the entrance passageways 83 for passengers on their way to the seats.

To insure safety and also to simplify the track construction the rails may be of channel shape as shown in Fig. 5. As shown, the rail structures are built up of boards orbeams 84 which form a ledge 85 for receiving the track rails or bars 86, the upper board or beam 87 overhanging the rail bars to form upper guard rails for limiting the vertical displacement of the wheels from the rail bars. The flanges of the wheels engage against the inner'edges of the rail bars 86 and thus side play of the axles is limited. Instead of building up the rail structures from beams and bars they could be in the form of metal channel bars properly secured on ties or other supporting beams.

I thus provide a short, compact train of maximum capacity and a train which is exceedin'gly flexible and in which the axles are automatically adjusted during running of the train to assume such angles as will bring the wheels at all times into tangential relation with the rails or a slight distance to one side or the other of such tangential position, .as desired. The train can thus readily and easily take abrupt and sudden turns and steep dips and inclines with all the wheels at allltimes. in firm engagement with the rails. All tendency towardrail climbing is thus eliminated and the traction friction is reduced to a minimum. The lengths of the compensating links and the draw bars and draw links and the points of connection can be varied to get the desired adjustment, and as all the connections are more or less flexible the train is asflexible vertically as laterally. By employing such flexible trains the curves, dips and summits can be made much more abrupt and the sensational features of a ridethus greatly increased so that a short ride will give as much or even greater sensation than in the longer rides heretofore used in which the curves, dips and summits could not be so abrupt on account of the long and inflexiblegreatly simplified and expensive guard rails ble. train where the axles and wheels can soattachments are eliminated, However such channel rails are not practical in connection with trains .which are not sufliciently flexi- However, with my compact flexible readily accommodate themselves to track curves, dips, summits and banks, the flanged rails can be usedwith great efliciency and the maximum degree of safety assured.

As changes and. modifications are possible which would still come'within the scope'of my invention, I do not. desireto be limited to. the exact construction, arrangement and operation which. I have shown and described. I claim as follows:

1..A pleasure vehicle structure comprising three axles, flanged wheels on said axles draw bars connecting said axles and pivoted thereto at the centers of the axles, compensating links slidable at their inner ends on said center axle and pivotally connected at their outer ends with the respective draw bars, and means for communicating swing of the center axle to the other axles.

2. A vehicle structure comprising three axles, flanged wheels on said axles, draw bars connecting said axles and pivoted thereto at their centers, a fitting slidable on said center axle at one side of its center, a fitting slidable on said center axle at the other side of its center, links pivoted at one rear and intermediate axles, flanged rail engaging wheels on said axles, a draw bar extending between and pivoted to the front and intermediate axles at the centers thereof, a draw bar extending between the rear and intermediate axles and pivoted thereto at their centers, said front draw bar being shorter than the rear draw bar, a pair of compensating links pivoted at their. outer ends on the front draw bar adjacent the intermediate axle, a second pair of compensating links pivoted at their outer ends on the rear draw bar adjacent said intermediate axle, the inner ends of corresponding links of said pairs being pivoted together and having sliding connectlon with said intermediate axle whereby relative swing of said draw bars will be communicated by said compensating links to said intermediate axle to cause said axle to swing,and means for communicating swing of said intermediate axle to said other axles.

4. A vehicle structure comprising front, rear and intermediate axles, flanged rail engagin wheels on said axles, a draw bar exten 'ng between and pivoted on the front and intermediate axles at the centers thereof, a draw bar extending between the rear and intermediate axles and. pivotedthereto .at their centers, said front draw bar being shorter than the rear drawbar, a pair of compensating links pivoted at their outer ends on the front draw bar adjacent the intermediate axle, a second pair of compensating links pivoted at their outer ends on the rear draw bar adjacent said intermediate axle, the inner ends of corresponding links of said pairs being pivoted together and having sliding connection with said intermediate axle whereby relative swing of said draw bars will be communicated by said compensating links to said intermediate axle to cause said axle to swing, and diagonal bars connecting the ends of said intermediate and front axles for communicating slrling of said intermediate axle to said front a e.

5. In a vehicle structure the combination of, a front axle, an intermediate axle, a rear axle, flanged rail engaging wheels on said axles, a drawnacniber pivoted at its ends to the front and'intermediate axles at the centers thereof, a second draw member connected at its ends with the intermediate and rear axles at the centers thereof whereby said axles may swing horizontally, a pair of compensating links pivoted at their outer ends on one of said draw members, a second pair of compensating links pivoted at their outer ends on said other draw member, a fitting at each end of said axle slidable thereon, the inner ends of said compensating links being pivoted to said fittings, said links responding to relative swing of said draw members to adjust the intermediate axle relative to track rails, connection between said intermediate axle and said front axle for effecting adjustment of said front axle during adjustment of the intermediate axle, a frame supported on said rear axle, and adjustment mechanism connecting between said intermediate axle and said frame for swinging said frame to adjust the rear axle with reference to the track rails while the vehicle is traveling.

6. A pleasure railway train comprising a plurality of vehicle units each having a rear axle with flanged wheels thereon, a draw connection from an intermediate point on each vehicle to the rear of the preceding vehicle, each vehicle at its front end resting on and being slidable on the rear end of the preceding vehicle.

7. A pleasure railway train comprising a plurality of vehicle units each having a rear axle, each unit at its front end resting on the rear end of the preceding unit, and draw connections from the axle of each unit to an intermediate point of the body of the following unit whereby swing of such axle will directly determine the direction of travel of said following unit.

8.. In a leasure railway train, the combination of a plurality of vehicle units each having a rear axle provided with flanged wheels, each unit at its front end having movable bearing connection on the rear end of the preceding unit, and a draw bar pivoted to each unit intermediate its front and rear ends and secured to the axle of the preceding vehicle to swing with such axle during travel of the train, the locations of the draw'bar pivot connections being such that the units will be swung during travel of the train to bring the axles into or substantially into the radial lines of the track curvature.

9. In a pleasure railway train the combination of a leading vehicle structure and a plurality of trailer units, said leading vehicle structure having front, intermediate and rear axles centrally pivoted for horizontal swing, compensating link mechanism connecting said axles and adapted to automatically swing said axles during running of a train over a track into or close to the radial lines of the track curvature, each trailer unit having a rear axle and having roller bearing support at its front end on the rear end of the preceding vehicle, and a draw bar connection between an intermediate point of each trailer unit and the axle of the preceding vehicle adapted to swing with such axle as the train travels, the connection of the draw bar with each trailer unit being such that the unit will be swung to bring its axle into or close to the radial line of curvature of the track as the train travels.

10. In a pleasure railway, the combination of a plurality of vehicle units each having a rear axle wit-h 'wheels thereon, draw link mechanism extending from the rear end of each preceding unit and connecting with the succeeding unit intermediate the ends of such succeeding unit, the weight at the front end of each succeeding unit being supported at the rear end of the preceding unit.

11. In a pleasure railway, the combination of a plurality of vehicle units each having a rear axle with wheels thereon, draw link mechanism pivoted at its inner end on each preceding vehicle at the rear end thereof to swing vertically, the outer end of each draw link mechanism being pivoted to the succeeding unit intermediate the end of such unit, the weight at the front end of each succeeding unit being sup-ported by the rear end of the preceding unit.

12. In a pleasure railway, the combination of a plurallty of vehicle units each having a rear axle with wheels thereon, draw link mechanism secured at its inner end at the rear end of each preceding unit for vertical swing, each draw link mechanism being pivoted at its outer end to the succeeding unlt at a point intermediate the ends of such unit, and means for supporting the weight at the front end of each succeeding unit.

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 6th day of January, A. D.,

JOHN A. MILLER. 

